Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9671881" data-attributes="member: 6790260">I dislike the spell-ification of class features already, so even if it weren't psionics being recast as "it's literally just another flavor of spells", I'd oppose it on those grounds.What I want to see: A mechanical structure which radically differs from Neo-Vancian spellcasting in nearly all conceivable ways. I don't want the Psion casting spells at all--except, perhaps, in a limited form via some kind of psionic power (or subclass feature) which is using psionic power to imitate or construct spells.Why I want to see it: "There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio." 5e, collectively, is rapidly approaching the point where if something is supernatural, it's magic, and if it's magic, it's specifically spells. Very few things are no longer spells, and WotC has repeatedly tried to turn things that weren't spells into spells (most notoriously, Warlock pacts, for God's sake!)There are many, many ways to structure new powers in such a way that they can work as a parallel but vastly different system.Sorcery I would accept remaining "spellcasting" because that's what it's been from the beginning. I wouldn't mind changing it, if the end result looked like the potential promised by the original "D&D Next" playtest Sorcerer (which was absolutely DRIPPING with flavor and so, so, so much better for it than most conceptual things that have actually come along in 5e), but I would accept it remaining as it is. "Miracles" is a complicated thing, but it would please me greatly if the Paladin were completely divorced from the spellcasting system and instead had non-spell miraculous effects it could perform. (I even have ideas! They already have auras. Add "litanies" as sustained active effects, and maybe "consecrations" for more momentary effects. Auras already do things spells don't--litanies and "consecrations" can also do things spells don't, even if there is occasional overlap.)At this point, the fact that arcane and divine magic are the same is a ship that sailed so long ago, we no longer have any means of recalling it. Primal is teetering on the brink--I think it's still theoretically possible to pull it back, but it'll be hard, and the Druid will always need to be a spellcaster regardless. (Likewise, I actually like the distinct way Warlocks engage with spells. It's still spells, but it's refreshingly different, and Invocations go a long way toward making them much more distinctive.)Psionics isn't like that. It doesn't need to be anything, because prior to 5e, it has never been the same as other approaches to supernatural power. It's been through some iterations over time, but it's always had a very distinctive way of going about what it does, regardless of edition--even in 4e (one of the few places where "except 4e" doesn't apply!) The only system that has ever made psionics just another flavor of spells is Pathfinder 1e, and even there it's closer to the Primal situation.</blockquote>

Verification